Writing a book is half the job done. The other half is getting your book into the hand of your readers. This is easier said than done. For one, marketing a book requires significant time and concentrated effort. Assuming a book will pick up traction on its own is a formula for ultimate failure.
As an author, it is your job to make sure your book reaches its maximum potential. Only you know how good it is, so you are the person positioned perfectly to market and talk about it. If you have published your boon, the following ideas will help you find your way into the market. If you are writing your book, incorporating these ideas in your book launch plan to help you get your book to the maximum number of people.
Most of these ideas will help you expand your reach and sales. Others will help you establish yourself as an author. However, none of the ideas are applicable all the time, and as an author, you must know how to create campaigns that will benefit your book.
Book Marketing Ideas that Work
1. Create an Author Website
Start with a website on WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix for ease. All these platforms offer multiple themes and templates for authors that can be customized in hours. This website will serve as the center of all online activity. All your social media links will point back to this website, so make sure this website is rich in information.
Most people looking for you will come to your author website wanting to know more about you and your process of writing. Add a blog where you share your back story and previously published books that can be purchased. Also, add links to shops where your books are available. If your book can be purchased from the website, add a simple checkout method, so your book gets purchased often.
To build your email list from the people visiting your website, attach a simple form that will ask and collect visitor emails. You can then email your book blurbs, sample chapters, and free e-books to your subscribers.
2. Set up your Social Media Platforms and Marketing
Create pages on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn. All the pages will serve different and specific functions for you as an author and your book:
- Facebook: your Facebook page will serve to show the world the author and the book. Ask your readers to leave reviews, and testimonials and ask you questions so it can develop into a lively community for your book. You can also send your book to book readers and ask them to give you a shout-out on the various book and author groups, which will help you gain attention. Additionally, boost certain posts on your page so you can get more mileage. Posts that do well when boosted include book promos, book discounts, event announcements, and book launches.
- Twitter: the audience on Twitter is more interested in short news. Create an account on Twitter and tweet updates about book tours, media coverage, your book, and new launches. Use hashtags that you can find and retweet, creating a close-knit community of people around your account. You can also boot tweets about your book launches and events.
- Instagram: use Instagram to showcase the visual aspects of your book writing and publishing journey. Drop your book covers, snapshots of chapters, and pictures of your writing, and if you are opting for a traditional publisher, the entire publishing process as it kicks in. Your readers will be hooked to the story as it unfolds. You can also share pictures from book promotion events, launch events, and any speaking events to keep the interest up.
- LinkedIn: LinkedIn will help you connect with professional writers and publishers across the world. Create an author page with select keywords. Keep it updated by posting about your book.
- Pinterest: Pinterest is an author-friendly platform where you can unleash your creativity. Create a Professional account with at least 10 boards related to your book. Use Canva to create beautiful pins and link each pin to content on other channels. Pinterest is highly visual and acts like a bonus free website or routing partner that brings search traffic from Pinterest to your website.
- YouTube: one of the most visual and visited sites across the web, this platform has the potential to showcase you and your book to a plethora of audiences. Create your account and post videos about events, live sessions, book promotions, or speeches that have the tendency to be visited again and again. Cross-link all your videos to other channels to get maximum conversions.
Of course, not all books will require all platforms. Make sure you pick and choose the platforms that work best for your book. A good measure is to look at what platforms other writers in your genre are working with
3. Increase your online exposure
Once you have the right social media strategy in place, you can start to increase your online presence.
- Pay Per Click: Boost your book sales with the help of Google search and display ads. Pay per click is the simple mechanism where the marketeer pays only when the advertisement is clicked. This helps to narrow down the audience, control spending, and still be seen by many. Pay-per-click ads are available on all social media platforms also, so make sure you boost your posts with this option.
- Video Ads: Video ads are posted to platforms that stream video content with ad breaks. This can be Facebook or YouTube. Create a book trailer and promote it to your niche audience that comes organically through these platforms. Use YouTube’s ‘skippable’ video ad or Facebook’s in-content ads to promote your books and yourself as an author.
- Book Bloggers: Influencers and bloggers are the most efficient way to spread the dependable word about your book. Bloggers with good following work hard to maintain it. Hence, they make sure they put out reviews that their audience can find useful. You can connect with book bloggers online and ask them to review your book. However, that can take substantial time since not every blogger will be ready to work with you, especially if you are new. You can submit your book to us, and we will distribute your book to 1000+ book bloggers worldwide. These bloggers will receive a free copy of your book, which they will review on their social platforms.
No matter what you decide to do, make sure you have a way to measure the conversions. Use data from one campaign to devise a new and better campaign with a more targeted audience to make your presence online stronger.
4. Collect genuine reviews
One of the thoroughly vetted methods that are held in high regard by both author and reader are reviews. Whether you collect reviews by paying for them with money or a free book, every review matters. Readers make purchase decisions based on true reviews, while authors learn about your work’s worth through them. You can build reviews through the following:
- On Amazon: Whether you like or hate Amazon as an author is a separate debate. Remember, there are tons of readers on Amazon, and your book will probably sell more copies from there than your own website. Create your account on Amazon and register as an author. Refer to Amazon’s help pages in case you get stuck during registration. As you sell your book, ask your buyers to post reviews and testimonials.
- Goodreads: Goodreads Author Program is free and can be joined from across the world. Create an account on Goodreads and promote your books on the platform. You can also interact with the readers and the reviews that are posted. Goodreads is a widely referenced website for book reviews. Getting your books on it will help new readers discover them as well as post helpful reviews that can convert new readers.
5. Create a reader community
Reader communities employ simple yet effective marketing techniques that bring together people of similar interests. Create Facebook groups with authors where you can co-promote your book. Build a street team of fans and volunteers who believe in your work. They will help you create a buzz and proceed to create your very own fan club. Host read-along and discussions in your fan club, giving your fans incentives to join.
6. List Your Book
Many platforms will be happy to list your book and promote it to their audience. These platforms have done the work of segregating the audience and creating niches so that once your book is promoted through them, it is likely to be picked up. You can enlist yourself on:
- Book Browse: this platform allows a very select genre of books and recommends only 30 books per month. The website is free to list on and caters to only books that can be sold in the USA.
- Free Booksy: this platform offers a range of genres of free e-books to its readers. For authors, each genre is priced separately based on the number of readers the website has and the pricing of the book.
- EBookStage: The platform allows authors to sign-up and promotes books of any genre. The website offers different packages for promotion which are subject to approval.
- Best Book Monkey: The platform offers free and paid promotion packages for all genres. The packages on this platform are geared towards exposure and conversions. However, only books that are free and less than $4.99 qualify for promotions.
- LitNuts: This platform is dedicated to books from independent presses and authors. The website is not aggressive on pricing and is open to a range of genres in both fiction and non-fiction.
- Booktrib: This platform gives you comprehensive options to promote your book, from book reviews to tapping into influencer networks and newspapers.
- HotZippy: This is a marketplace of 4 promotion websites, each having its own audience. The platform has 3 promotion packages that promote your book on all 4 websites. Subject to certain terms and conditions of the pricing of the book during the promotion, the platform pushes books for 7-day and 30-day promotions.
- My Book Place: This platform offers a weekly promotion service that charges a simple fee. The website caters to all kinds of books and has no specific terms and conditions except paying the fee before proceeding to share the book.
- Book Cave: Book Cave offers its platform to books and authors of all genres except poetry and literature of divisive nature. The platform has a set of terms and conditions for promotion and an upper limit on book pricing.
7. Worldwide book distribution
Book distributors help get your book listed in stores and make sure your book is actively marketed to achieve this purpose. Distributors have credible and well-established networks which you can use to promote your book even further.
You can get your book to Bookch, Luminare Press, Cardinal Publishing, Consortium, Green Leaf Book Group, and National Book Network, among others in other parts of the world. Distributors tend to work with select publishers and in select geographical locations. All distributors offer both electronic and printed distribution options. As big a task as this may seem, we can help you to distribute your book to worldwide bookstores. Send us your requirements, and we will reach out to the distributor perfect for your book.
8. Other Ideas that Work
Other ideas that you can use for your book and would work perfectly include:
- Donate your book to relevant organizations and libraries. This way, your book gets in front of readers free of charge.
- Pitch your book as a holiday gift. Include your book as part of a holiday gift theme on your blog posts.
- Participate in live events and interviews so people can see and relate to you.
- Host Q& A. You can host them on your own social media platforms or join other authors, events and podcasts.
Continue publishing new books. Lastly, the more you write fresh and new content, the more people will find you, follow you and read you.